Setting Your RC Helicopter Gyro Direction
It's an easy step to get wrong
INSPECTING CORRECT GYRO DIRECTION
• Prior to installing the radio controlled gyro on your RC helicopter, you
should ensure that the gyro will move the tail rotor in the right way.
• You can test it this way...
• Step 1. Connect the gyro to the rudder servo, battery and
receiver, making sure to follow the instructions from your gyro manufacturer. If
there are two sensitivity controls in the gyro, then rotate both of them to 50
percent of the maximum. Similarly if there is only one sensitivity control
setting, move it to 50%
• Step 2. Switch on the transmitter and the receiver.
They gyro should power up as soon as the receiver comes on. Shift the rudder
stick to the right as well as left. See to it that the movements of the tail
rotor blades are in the right direction. The helicopter's instruction manual
will show you which blade movements create right and left nose movements.
You can flip the transmitter's servo reversing switch in order to adjust errors
in the movement response if the tail rotor is moving the wrong way. Typically
the blades of the rear rotor rotate such that the blades closest to the ground
move towards the front of the helicopter. By spending a few moments
observing how the rear tail rotor will "push" or "pull" depending on the pitch,
you can avoid a surprise the first time you power up.
• Step 3. When the tail rotor blades are moving in the right
directions, note which way the servo arm is rotating when you give a right stick
command.
• Step 4. Keep the gyro on the top of a table and turn it sharply
counter-clockwise in order to produce a left nose movement of the helicopter.
The servo arm is supposed to turn in the same direction as in Step 3 so as to
provide an opposing right nose modification. During the test, if you notice that
the servo is moving in the wrong direction, this means that the gyro is sending
the wrong input, then you need to change its direction. Use the gyro's reverse
switch to fix the direction of the servo's movement, and repeat the test to make
sure it is working properly.
There are several key steps that you can get wrong here.
In Step 2, you need to be positive that the rotor pitch movement is correct
for the rudder stick movement. Fix it with the servo reserve function on
your transmitter.Secondly, you need to
be sure your tail rotor is rotating in the correct direction. If you
twisted the tail rotor belt in the wrong direction when you installed it, the
rotor will rotate the wrong way. Standing on the left side of the RC
helicopter, with the nose facing forward, the tail rotor should rotate
counter-clockwise.
Finally, you need to get the gyro
direction correct. If you don't get this right, as you start to lift
the RC helicopter off, the heli will start spinning faster and faster, as the
gyro instead of feeding a corrective input, provides an input that makes the
offset work.
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